On Tuesday, the LA Galaxy kicked off their prepration for the 2014 MLS Cup Final with an early morning session that was plagued by rain showers. Rain has become a staple of LA's MLS Cups as both finals in 2011 and 2012 happened during rare Southern California rain showers.

Although the rain was intense during the session, it didn't affect the Galaxy's preparations.

"It was good. For the starters, we didn't do much, but it was good to let them run around a little bit," said Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena. "We'll have a day out tomorrow so by Thursday, they'll be fresh and ready to play."

Galaxy stalwarts Landon Donovan, Omar Gonzalez and Robbie Keane were named to the league's Best XI on Tuesday after banner seasons for an LA squad that finished with finished with the league's second best record. The selection is an MLS record seventh for Donovan while Gonzalez was named to the Best XI for a foruth time while Keane earned his third selection in a row.

The trio’s inclusion marks the first time that the three Galaxy Designated Players have all been named to the MLS Best XI in the same season.

More than 100 LA Galaxy fans greeted the team at Los Angeles International Airport on Monday morning after the team clinched the Western Conference Championship by defeating Seattle Sounders FC.

In this fan video by "DJ Elixx", we get an insight into the fans that greeted the Galaxy at Atlantic Aviation and their celebration with Cozmo and the Western Conference Trophy afterward. I do have to warn you that I do make a few brief cameos.

CARSON, Calif. -- The LA Galaxy are expecting to be back to full fitness -- or at least close to it, when they kick off in the MLS Cup Final against the New England Revolution on Sunday.

A.J. DeLaGarza (left hamstring strain) was the most glaring absence from the squad that dispatched Seattle Sounders FC on Sunday, but in an interview with reporters the morning after, the 27-year-old said that he expects to play in MLS Cup this weekend.

"I feel a lot better. I've been working out the last couple of days, but I didn't train too much in the buildup to the last game against Seattle so it wasn't right to go out in a situation like that especially on that turf. You saw that Osvaldo Alonso was not himself and he had two weeks to get ready for that," said DeLaGarza. "I'll be fine this weekend. I'm going to get back into full training."

Another question mark is Juninho who played the hero for the Galaxy with the series-clinching goal against the Sounders. It appeared that the Brazilian suffered an injury in the 87th minute that forced Bruce Arena to pull him from the match when a subsitution of another banged up player (Marcelo Sarvas) was already in the cards.

Despite needing to be helped off the field, Juninho insisted after the game that he'll be ready for Sunday's meeting with the New England Revolution.

"It was so cold out there and at the end of the game there is a lot of pressure so I felt a cramp," said Juninho. " I'm good though. I'll be good for the next game."

CARSON, Calif. -- LA Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena spoke to reporters on Sunday after the LA Galaxy's 2-1 defeat to Seattle Sounders FC at CenturyLink Field that saw the team advance 2-2 on aggregate thanks to the away goals tiebreaker.

Arena's comments are below.

(On what it took to come back...)

ARENA: “We played pretty well in the first half then a turn of events with a sloppy 10 minutes. I thought they came out fairly passive. We had control of the game, made a couple mistakes and they burned us for it. We told our guys at halftime that we just have to get a goal to advance. Juninho finally hit the goal this year. It was a great goal and we had to hang on for our lives at the end there. The field was difficult to play on tonight. The surface is really slick and challenging for both teams. It was just a matter of grinding it out and having the right mentality, and we accomplished that. This was not going to be easy, by no means, and it wasn’t, but we knew the rules.”

(On what Juninho has meant this year...)

ARENA: “He’s had a great year, a fabulous year, and oddly enough, didn’t score a goal for us until tonight.”

(On the key to getting the win tonight...)

ARENA“Obviously that goal and then the way we were able to defend at the end. I give Stefan Frei a lot of credit. He came up with two big saves on Landon’s [Donovan] breakaway and [Stefan] Ishizaki’s header. That could’ve really put them away so he kept them in there. At the end, it got hectic when they sent [Chad] Marshall up and had a lot of big guys in front of the goal. Our guys hung in there and we managed to get the result that we needed.”

(On LA’s defense...)

ARENA: “When you play here under these conditions, you know there’s going to be some sloppy play, there’s going to be some crazy chances and possibly some crazy goals. We weren’t surprised, but again, knowing that if we got a goal back in the second half, we’d advance. We challenged them early in the second half, got some good chances and then Juninho hit the back of the net.”

(On advancing with a loss...)

ARENA: “I don’t really care. We lost here two years ago, too, didn’t we? I didn’t make the rules, you know? The whole objective is to advance and get to the MLS Cup Final. We’ve accomplished that and we’re going to have a real battle on our hands.”

(On how they approached this game...)

ARENA: “We tried to come in and win the game. We didn’t want to sit back, and we didn’t. We came out and were very aggressive. Obviously you know what the rule is and an away goal was important. Shutting Seattle out last week in the first leg was a big factor as well.”

(On Omar Gonzalez...)

ARENA: “Omar had a good game. I thought Dan Gargan and Leonardo played well. Robbie Rogers had a tough night, but he’ll regroup and be ready for Sunday.”

(On the second half...)

ARENA: “I was surprised. I thought the way Seattle came out in the first half, that they were just going to sit after halftime, drop their whole team back and make it difficult. But that game managed to open up and certainly, once Juninho scored, it really opened up. We had some chances as well to get the second goal.”

(On Landon Donovan...)

ARENA: “We didn’t change anything with Landon [Donovan] the whole game, he just played better in the second half. His second half was really good – his first half was so, so. That’s Landon. He’s a great player. He’s an experienced guy. He’s able to deal with the ups and downs in a game and he managed, over 90 minutes, to play real well. It was his running, his vision. He had to do a lot of defending tonight. Everybody did their share.”

(On the team’s celebration...)

ARENA: “To get this result and be in the Final at home, we’re proud of that. Again, we have a long week ahead of us to try to get our team recovered and ready to play a tough New England team.”

(On if experience won this game...)

ARENA: “Experience is a factor. We’ve been through this a lot this year and I think we’ve gotten better in the second half of the season. We’ve been able to protect leads and we did a good job tonight.”

(On if he still gets excited even though he’s been to several MLS Cups...)

ARENA: “Yes. Yes.”

(On how this team compares to the others he’s taken to MLS Cup...)

ARENA: “Don’t know yet. Until we get through this final game, then we’ll be able to summarize what we think about this team and other teams. They have an opportunity to be the MLS champions so we look forward to that challenge. It’s going to be a tough game.”

SEATTLE— The LA Galaxy will have to deal with both Seattle Sounders FC and the Pacific Northwest chill when they take the field on Sunday evening at CenturyLink Field.

According to Sounders blogger Frank McDonald, the temperature for kick off could be the coldest in the Sounders’ five year history in MLS. Currently, the forecast calls for 34 degree temperatures by kick off which would surpass the previous coldest Sounders’ kick off on record which was a sweltering 39 degrees for a match against Real Salt Lake in March.

Although the temperatures will certainly be a factor for all those in attendance at CenturyLink Field, Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena says that it won’t impact either side.

“For players, the conditions are neutralized after a few minutes. Bodies adjust and get warmer,” Arena said on Saturday at the team's hotel. “Players like these conditions because it's not raining and there is not a lot of wind so I think it'll be good for both teams.”

SEATTLE— Bruce Arena often tells reporters that he is unaware what to expect from a match, but the LA Galaxy head coach offered a little insight to the team’s mindset heading into their decisive match in Seattle.

LA will play for a spot in MLS Cup on Sunday in their Western Conference Championship second leg match with Seattle Sounders FC and just hours out from the Galaxy’s potential final match of 2014, Arena insists that his squad has what it takes to knock off Seattle.

“At this point of the game, we just have to stick to our game plan. we've been together for 10 whole months, we know what we're about,” said Arena. “We just know the adjustments that we have to make and we know the circumstances in this series. We’ll be prepared for whatever they throw at us.

And no matter what Seattle brings, Arena insists that his team’s focus is singular: “Just Win Baby.”

“If we win the game [then] that’s the key. You don’t know how the game is going to play out,” said Arena. “Conditions are an issue, but I don’t think it is huge. We know each other and we’ll go out and play. Hopefully we move forward and we’re the better team and we move onto MLS Cup.”

SEATTLE—The “will he or won’t he start” questions surrounding Sounders FC midfielder Osvaldo Alonso has been a major part of the build-up to Sunday’s Western Conference Championship second leg between the Galaxy and Seattle, but one who isn’t asking that question is LA head coach Bruce Arena.

Alonso missed out on the Galaxy’s 1-0 first leg win in Southern California last week with a hamstring injury, but has trained with Seattle throughout the week including their session at StarFire Sports Complex on Saturday.

The Galaxy boss was asked about Seattle’s optimism about their star midfielder’s status on Sunday and was quick to provide a terse response on Alonso’s availability.

“I wouldn't think so, but if he does [play] then good for him,” Arena quipped.

SEATTLE -- When the LA Galaxy arrived at CenturyLink Field for their final training session ahead of their Western Conference Championship second leg match against Seattle Sounders FC, the pristine practice surface that they were expecting was covered in a dusting of snow that blanketed large swatches of the pitch.

The snow which was the remnants of a light snow fall that descended on Seattle in the early morning hours was soon made playable by the grounds crew, but the fact the Sounders might have provided LA with a little gamesmanship did not surprise Galaxy head coach Bruce Arena.

"I don't know the protocol [for the field being cleared],” Arena said in the team’s downtown hotel ahead of Sunday’s conference final deciding leg. “We ran a little bit so it was fine. We don't expect to get any favors when we visit here anyway.”

But when the game kicks off on Sunday, Arena doesn’t expect that the same types of conditions that they faced in training.

“We will adjust and play however. We don’t know what the conditions will be like, but they’ll probably be better than they were at training,” said Arena. “It’s going to be sunny tomorrow so you would anticipate that the ice would melt off the field.

“They weren’t able to clear the field and I know that it was a major blizzard last night so we dealt with those conditions today, but hopefully the sun will allow for the ice to disappear.”